Terrible Advertising

March 16, 2011/

Since I have an email address, I get all kinds of dumb emails from places that want my money. Today I got one from an airline that said “We’re Showering the Country with Savings for April Travel” Come on, people. Someone is getting paid serious amounts of money to come up with this stuff. Copy-writers everywhere: move beyond the email ads that are tied into the nearest holiday and the exact same every year.

Second, since I am getting married and have an email address, I get all kinds of dumb emails that are also really sexist and gross-feeling. Lots of jokes about how dumb the guys are and how their opinion doesn’t count. I understand that a lot of stuff at weddings falls into the “lady” category of things, but are most men really just zero interested in the wedding? I don’t believe that.

I got an ad for a Macy’s registry open house, and the tag-lines were these: “The registry is the biggest free shopping spree of your life!” Granted, as a kid I loved “Supermarket Sweep” and similar shows, so I get the appeal of a free shopping spree, but the messaging rubbed me wrong. But then it got better. And by better I mean worse.

I paraphrase, but the ad went on to say: “Girls, bring your fiancée, because he’ll have fun pretending the scanner is a gun!”

I have so many concerns with this statement, I just can’t even say them.